Spare Time
by Rayne McKenna
Summary: Derek teaches Spencer a little bit about ball handling. Rated 'T' for pervy puns and sexual innuendos.


**Okay, trying to decide on an AU to write, as I have never attempted one, but this came to mind in the meantime while reflecting on the past and waiting for a call, so I wrote it up as a quick one-shot. Hope you enjoy it.**

The team, minus Hotch, who had a sick little boy to get home to, decided to go out and do something a little different that night after work. They had discovered Rossi was quite the bowler back in the day. Although he'd warned them it had been nearly two decades since his league days, the crew had really just delighted in seeing the man's face as he traded in his Italian leather for a beat up pair of smelly, old rental shoes.

Prentiss, Morgan and Rossi teamed up against JJ, Garcia and Reid for the first game. By the fourth frame, it was more than apparent who had a knack for the game and who was lacking in coordination.

"I didn't realize you were such a bowling enthusiast." Prentiss commented, making Morgan jump.

"What? I'm not."

"Oh? Then why are you studying our young genius's technique so closely? Or is 'his form' the better term in this case?"

"Wha-"

"Don't deny it, you love watching him bend over. Not that I can blame you. He does have a cute butt. Just get your mind out of the gutter before you get up there. I'm up after you and I don't need to slip on your drool and break my neck."

"Prentiss, you've been spending way too much time with Penelope and those trashy romance novels you think we don't notice you reading on the jet, and not enough time getting laid. The only thing in the gutter is Reid's ball. Has he ever even done this before?"

"I think it's safe to assume he only ever engages in one activity where balls are involved."

"Prentiss!" Derek hissed.

"What! I meant pool! He woops my ass every time! Jesus Morgan, just proves my point where your head is when it comes to Reid…" She pointed out. "Or at least where you want it to be." She added quietly.

"Me? You're the one admittedly checking out his ass. Besides, I would have better taste if I went that way."

"Better taste? Who the hell do you think you're fooling here? We all know that Reid would be an amazing catch for anyone. He's got brains, wit and personality all rolled up into a runway model package. Let's face it Morgan, under the awkwardness and Ward Cleaver wardrobe is one hell of a sexy guy."

Derek quirked a brow at her.

"Now who's drooling?" He smirked.

"Whatever, hey, if I thought I had a shot I'd go for it."

Derek laughed. "Yeah, right. Well, never know until you try Prentiss." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Who says I haven't?"

Derek whipped his head around shooting her a shocked expression, but she was already walking away.

By the next game, they had split into new teams and Derek took pity on Reid who, having received the lowest score thus far, was now being humiliated further by Rossi and Garcia as they retrieved a coin to flip to decide which team was stuck with him.

"Forget it. It's guys against girls this round." He stated, pulling Reid to the right lane, ignoring Rossi's indignant groan.

Reid's first ball went straight into the gutter while the second managed to hold its feeble course long enough to take out two whole pins. Morgan would have cringed if it weren't for Reid's tiny, hopeful smile that lent a glimmer of delight to the young man's eyes at his small accomplishment. Morgan suddenly found himself wanting to see what a strike would do, so when Reid was up again, he walked up to him and halted his hand.

"What?"

"You're bowling with an eight pound ball?"

"Yeah. Something wrong with that?"

"No. Not if you're a twelve year old girl."

Spencer glared at him, succeeding in looking about as intimidating as a baby meerkat. Damn, he really was cute.

"Look kid, you get more control with a heavier ball. Here," He offered, grabbing his sixteen-pounder. "Try me, er, mine."

Spencer tensed at the slip, but pretended not to notice as he put his fingers in the holes and lifted it, nearly dropped it, then cradled in in both hands.

"This thing weighs a ton!"

"Come on Reid," Derek chuckled. "Maybe you'll actually build some muscle."

Spencer huffed before hauling the too-heavy ball to the lane. He griped the holes tightly and swung back, promptly dropping the ball and stumbling as it rolled backward.

Everyone broke into hysterics.

"Uh, the lane is THAT way." Rossi pointed, stopping the ball under his rented shoe.

Spencer looked like he might rip the older agents head off and throw IT down the lane. Derek quickly grabbed the ball and turned Spencer back to face the task at hand.

"Ignore them Reid. Just focus. Watch me."

Spencer stood aside and watched Derek walk through the motions without actually releasing the ball. When he walked back to hand off the ball, Spencer reluctantly accepted it and tried his best to mimic Derek's motions. He held on too long and stumbled forward as the ball arched up and crashed to the lane rolling slowly into the gutter.

Everyone clapped and cheered enthusiastically, mocking him. Derek felt awful watching as Spencer folded his arms across himself and frowned.

"I forfeit."

"Reid,"

"I'm done." Spencer spat, turning around to find his shoes.

Derek took him by the arm and turned his slender body to face him.

"That's not the Reid I know. You're not the type to give up and we both know it. Now get your skinny ass back up there and try again." The taller man shot him a skeptical look. "For me?" Derek pleaded, using his own trade mark, puppy eyes against him.

Spencer sighed and walked back to the starting position. Derek handed him the ball and he once again shoved the appropriate fingers in the holes. Derek stepped behind him and put his right hand over Spencer's on the ball and his left hand on his narrow hip. The younger man gasped even as a muscular frame pressed lightly against his back and hot breath tickled his ear.

"Okay Pretty boy, I need you to focus. This is simply a bit of basic math and science. See the dots on the floor?" Spencer nodded even though his eyes were squeezed shut. "You tend to bowl at an angle, so you want to move a bit to the right. You use those dots to help you judge your starting position. With me so far?"

Spencer nodded frantically, heart racing from the proximity of their bodies and the heat of that husky, velvet voice traveling from his ear straight to regions he shouldn't be focused on at the moment…if ever.

"Now, the arrows on the lane ahead serve much the same purpose, helping you dictate the placement and path of the ball. You have long legs so you have to get your stride right. You may have to start further back." He practically cooed as he griped the hip in his hand, dragging him back a bit. "There. Let's walk through it slowly first then you can try okay?" Spencer nodded again, not trusting his voice. "Alright, three steps." Derek nearly breathed, moving forward, still plastered to Spencer's back, bodies moving as one. "On the first, start drawing the ball back, by the second you should be bringing it forward and by the third, releasing about here. Follow through with your body and keep your wrist straight. Try that and we'll fine tune next time." He finished, staying close a few moments longer than necessary.

Spencer took a deep breath and swallowed hard before focusing once again on what he was supposed to be doing. After walking slowly through the steps again, he finally put what he learned into practice and Derek watched Spencer's face light up in bright-eyed awe as the ball took out most of the pins. The grin the younger man sent him caused waves of warmth to flow through his chest, and a tingling sensation he was choosing to ignore elsewhere. Skinny arms shot up in victory and everyone clapped and cheered again, this time with complete sincerity.

"Looks like ya got some double wood there." Rossi cut in.

The two men froze, shifting uncomfortably and glancing down before noticing that Dave was looking at the screen.

"See? Two pins lined up one behind the other. They call that double wood."

The guys relaxed a bit as the girls shared knowing giggles.

"Great goin' kid. I knew you could do it. You can do anything you put that brilliant mind to." Derek beamed, paying no attention to the women.

Spencer's grin became a shy smile as Derek patted him on the back and threw an arm around his shoulders.

"Thanks Morgan."

"No problem. We'll have you bowling Turkey's in no time."

"Turkey's?" Spencer asked, clearly confused.

"It's when you get three strikes in a row." Rossi explained.

"Yeah, and Rossi would know better than anyone about the three strikes bit." Morgan cracked.

"Funny Morgan," Rossi said, moving close enough now so only Morgan could hear. "Coming from a man who's never had the balls to actually _risk_ a strike."

Derek stared after his elder as he went to the bar for another beer.

By the end of the game, Spencer had managed to pull off an 83. Nowhere near great, but he seemed excited. Even if the ladies did win by a landslide. Rossi blamed it on the beer he'd consumed while waiting on Morgan to "baby" Reid, Derek blamed it on an old shoulder injury acting up and Spencer, well, he just seemed happy with his improvement.

"Okay Reid, how about we work more on your technique Saturday, when Rossi isn't there bitching that we're taking too long because he can't miss the eight O'clock glass of Metamucil before his bedtime?"

Spencer snorted, nearly choking on his drink as he glanced in Rossi's direction, thankful that the man hadn't heard the comment and thrilled at the prospect of some one-on-one time with Derek.

"Yeah. I'd like that. It might be easier without an audience. I know I need to build up my grip strength and work on my release."

Prentiss heard this and quipped, "Wow Reid, you are talking about bowling right? Well, either way, I'm sure Morgan would be more than happy to help you out!"

"Prentiss…" Derek warned as she put her hands up, backing away while trying to hide her amusement.

"Thanks again Morgan." Spencer said, changing the subject. "I really appreciate you taking the time."

"It's no big deal. I had fun tonight. I'm sure we'll have a great time Saturday too. Especially when we get you that first strike. You've got it down for the most part, we just need to work a little on your ball handling and loosen you up a bit."

Garcia and JJ snickered as they passed them to return their shoes. Derek ran a hand over his face and blew out a frustrated breath. He never realized how dirty bowling terms could be.

"You need a ride home?" Derek offered.

"Uh, no. Prentiss said she'd take me after one more game. I wanted to practice a bit more and she's not in any hurry so…"

"Ah. I see." Derek replied, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What?"

"Nothing. Have fun." Derek said, turning to leave.

"Wait." Spencer jumped in front of him and put a hand on his muscled chest to stop him. He pulled it away when he saw the dark man's wide eyes.

"I just…it's not like that."

"It's fine if it is. It's none of my business Reid."

"No, I know, but, I don't want you-anyone to think something that's not…"

"It's cool man. You should go for it. She already told me she thinks you're sexy. Hey, maybe you should ask _her_ to teach you. Good excuse to get…"

"Morgan! No, it's not…she's not my type."

"She's a beautiful, intelligent woman. How could she not be your…oh."

Spencer winced. He hadn't wanted to divulge this information just yet.

"Oh!" Derek repeated, as the realization fully set in.

"If you want to opt out of Saturday now, I'll understand." Spencer said with a straight face, though his eyes gave away fear, apprehension and sadness.

"Actually, now that you mention it, I forgot I'm covering a combat class for Agent Williams at three…"

"Okay. That's fine. Thanks anyway." Spencer said quickly, moving around Derek, back toward the lanes.

"Pretty boy," Derek grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "If you'd have let me finish, I was going to ask if it was alright that we start later. Catch some dinner and maybe do Rock 'N' Bowl Saturday night. There're lots of teens and they keep it dark so they can run lasers and disco lights, but I'll be there to protect you if you wanna try it." He winked, pushing a rogue strand of hair behind Spencer's ear. "It may be a distracting learning environment, but I'm sure I'll find some way to keep you focused."

Spencer tried, he really did, but the grin that assaulted his lips was too powerful to be contained.

"Meet you at that Italian place at seven?"

"Nah, I'll pick you up at your place around six forty-five. Wear something…comfortable." Derek smiled, letting his hand run down one, long arm, squeezing the hand at the end briefly before making his exit.

Spencer watched after him until he disappeared out the door and around the corner. He calmed down a bit before heading back to Prentiss, who had just finished setting up the new game and buying one last pitcher of beer.

"You're up first." She informed him. "So, this thing Saturday…it a date or what?"

Spencer grinned yet again. Ball in hand, he did a crazy little dance and spun around before chucking the ball down the lane, effectively wiping out every pin.

"Yup." He replied.

Prentiss laughed. "You know, pretending to suck at something you're great at to get close to someone is pretty underhanded. In fact, some would say it's downright unfair."

"Yeah, well, in the words of English Renaissance poet, John Lyly," He sighed, easily bowling another strike, "The rules of fair play do not apply in love and war."

Prentiss laughed again and shook her head. "But at least in war there's the Geneva Convention."

***Geneva Convention: One of a series of international agreements first made in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1864, establishing rules for the humane treatment of prisoners of war.**

**And yes, some of you may have been reminded of a Twitter video uploaded by MGG not long ago. I didn't want to mention it until the end, but the video is what got me reflecting on my bowling days, and why I applied it to them. If you haven't seen the video, you should look it up on Youtube. :) **


End file.
